Good statistical piece that shows just how bad Ash's lack of consistency is, despite his obvious talent.

The Friday column
Ashraful's battle to make his mark
S Rajesh
March 3, 2006

... Besides Habibul Bashar, you'd struggle to name a player who has consistently appeared a batsman of international stature. Consistently is the key word here, for over the last four years and more, one young batsman has intermittently reminded the cricketing world of his talent, only to lapse into mediocrity so quickly thereafter that the flash of brilliance seems almost a fluke ...

... When on song Ashraful can make the best bowling attack appear pedestrian; his problem, though, is that when he isn't at his best, he can be quite awful ...

... The next few years will tell if he goes down in record books as a player who fulfilled his potential, or one who - like Carl Hooper, to name just one - remained an underachiever ...Read the whole thing here: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/239379.html

mshakir56

March 3, 2006, 02:12 AM

All I can tell you is that the writer of this article, basically read my mind.

abherath

March 3, 2006, 05:09 AM

The article is dead on target.

I think this is where coaching comes in. DW had good raw material in Ashraful when the former came to Bangladesh. There is no finished product yet, only work-in-progress.

I think the story is the same for Aftab and Shahriar Nafees, both with immense unutilised potential.

Mohiul

March 3, 2006, 08:38 AM

Good to read

pagol-chagol

March 3, 2006, 11:33 AM

You can throw away the other ones after the euphoria is over.

Keep this one:

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/239379.html

khalifa

March 3, 2006, 11:53 AM

Another glaring example of how stats are quite unable to tell a rel-life story. I don't know if you all are aware of the mindset of a young man growing up in BD, with the pressure of withstanding a whole family's aspirations. Add to that, fulfilling the demands of a cricket-crazy nation, which doesn't have anything to cheer about in life but occassional/rare sports glories. These are all a major hindrance to consistency in any act of performance in international arena.
You all should consider the unique situation of Ash, he was born and brought-up in a poverty-ridden lowe middle-class family in Goran, Dhaka. I guess the fact that he is playing any sort of cricket is no short of a miracle.

pagol-chagol

March 3, 2006, 12:13 PM

Originally posted by khalifa
Another glaring example of how stats are quite unable to tell a rel-life story.

This is not suppose to be a tear jerker novel. There are TV soap operas for that. The stat clearly shows how Ashraful's inconsistency keeps him from attaining greatness. Notice, he has the 2nd worst inconstant batsman in that scale. Ever. Notice how Tendulkar had twice his average at his age.

I don't know if you all are aware of the mindset of a young man growing up in BD, with the pressure of withstanding a whole family's aspirations.

This is true about just about every West Indian, Indian, Paki, Bangladeshe, SriLankan and Zimbabwueian player. Same with almost all Brazilian, African and Argentine players.

Add to that, fulfilling the demands of a cricket-crazy nation, which doesn't have anything to cheer about in life but occasional/rare sports glories.

BD player's pressure is nothing compared to and Indian cricket players or a South American soccer players. Then again so what if he has pressure. Most of us do just as much. A little bit too much generalization there with "nothing to cheer about".

These are all a major hindrance to consistency in any act of performance in international arena.

This is true about everybody.

You all should consider the unique situation of Ash, he was born and brought-up in a poverty-ridden lowe middle-class family in Goran, Dhaka.

Whats so unique about that?

I guess the fact that he is playing any sort of cricket is no short of a miracle.

Whats so unique about that? Check out Pele's or Maradon's early childhood. Check out Close Up-1 winner Nolok Babu's early childhood.

betaar

March 3, 2006, 12:18 PM

This is what I had in another thread........

posted on Mar 03, 2006 at 09:07 AM

Ash's double figure on Cricinfo!!

Looks like Cricinfo is trying to compensate for their lack of recognition of Bangladesh and stipulated enough space for Ashriful in the cyber space.

The reports are written respectively by Rabeed Imam and S. Rajesh on Cricinfo.

While Rabeed Imam’s report is very good read and tells a lot about Ashraful the cricketer and Ashraful the simple 21 year old Bangladeshi kid who has a good heart. Reading the article I just realized that we fans would not react the way we do had we known these players personally and the situation they are in. It is one thing to feel the pressure of making cricket fans proud by justifying your talent but it’s another to know that cricket is your bread and butter and failure is not an option. Considering this factor, one might ask is that why BD players are not succeeding at the highest level? We all know that it takes a sound mind and a lot of concentration to be a sound batsman; do our players really posses those qualities because of the back ground they are from? Are their minds ever sound enough to just concentrate on each and every ball while they are at the crease? These are just some random questions and I am afraid I don’t know the answers.

Rabeed Imam’s Article can make Ash realize the need of his true performance and the weight it carries. I just hope Ash doesn’t succumb to the arrogant zone where one would consider himself invincible. And I think that’s where S. Rajesh’s article comes in very handy. It talks about Ash’s true potential and also analyzes his failures which are more frequent then his success at the highest level.

I pray both these articles work as an anecdotes for Ash before the 2nd test.

Edited on, March 3, 2006, 5:19 PM GMT, by betaar.

ASA

March 3, 2006, 01:03 PM

Good read. I found these two points very important in the Rajesh article ...

The day-in-day-out nature of the sport demands a certain level of consistency, and Ashraful has failed that test quite miserably so far. After that incredible debut, Ashraful went ten completed innings with no score of more than 33. A 75 was then followed by 12 innings in which he didn't pass 28. Being part of an outfit like Bangladesh has allowed him a longer rope, but despite gaining in years and cricketing experience, Ashraful still has too many lean patches - his 158 against India was just two short of the total runs he managed in his next 13 innings.

LateCut

March 3, 2006, 01:32 PM

I think Rajesh's article misses one very important point. An average over the whole career is not a good measure of the current form of the cricketer. For example, if you take a time window from Cardiff to 4th March, 2006, the ratio will be much batter. In other words, he is still inconsistent but lately much better than he was in the previous year. He was good in the last two ODIs and first innings of the first test. In that short time span he is only 25% in RII (Rajesh Inconsistency Index).

Edited on, March 3, 2006, 6:35 PM GMT, by LateCut.

pagol-chagol

March 3, 2006, 01:46 PM

Originally posted by LateCut
I think Rajesh's article misses one very important point. An average over the whole career is not a good measure of the current form of the cricketer. For example, if you take a time window from Cardiff to 4th March, 2006, the ratio will be much batter. In other words, he is still inconsistent but lately much better than he was in the previous year. He was good in the last two ODIs and first innings of the first test. In that short time span he is only 25% in RII (Rajesh Inconsistency Index).

Edited on, March 3, 2006, 6:35 PM GMT, by LateCut.

I thought that too but refrained from saying anything because he scored 160 in the 13 innings between the 2 centuries.

Look at his game by game stats in both ODIs and tests.

Its so frustrating just to look at those numbers. Flashes of brilliance for a couple of games and than long silences.